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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

METTLER TOLEDO (Columbus, OH) has introduced the versatile WMS weigh modules, which can be integrated into automated processes with ease. According to the company, they meet demanding standards and quality requirements. The FDA-compliant stainless steel design features overload stops and a long service life.

Badger Meter (BMI; Milwaukee, WI) has added the Ultra High Pressure Valve Assembly HP-60 to its product line. It is engineered for use in high-pressure chemical applications in need of a 60,000 psi, low-flow control valve. It is designed with a 17-4ph alloy and solid Stellite Innervalve assembly, allowing it to withstand intense pressure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Factories are producing more cars, computers and household appliances, and applications for unemployment benefits over the past four weeks are at the lowest point since summer 2008.
Economic data released Thursday suggest that March will be the second straight month of strong job growth.

DETROIT (AP) — A shortage of parts from Japan will force General Motors Co. to halt production at its pickupplant in Shreveport, La., next week, the company said Thursday.
It's the first time a U.S.-based automaker will stop production in North America over parts shortages caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation spooked the nation in the early 1980s. It surged and kept rising until it topped 13 percent.
These days, inflation is much lower. Yet to many Americans, it feels worse now. And for a good reason: Their income has been even flatter than inflation.
Back in the '80's, the money people made typically more than made up for high inflation.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An Alabama company has bought the assets of a Nashville weapons manufacturerwhose former owner and operators face federal charges of illegally exporting weapon parts overseas.
Manroy USA, headquartered in Scottsboro, Ala., finalized the $4.95 million sale this week in a federal bankruptcy court auction for Sabre Defence Industries, LLC, which has current contracts with the military to provide parts for the .

BEIJING (AP) — Three senior officials in central China have been suspended and more than two dozen others punished after pigs in farms there tested positive for a banned chemical that can be dangerous to humans, state media said Friday.
Tainted pork has become the latest food safety scandal to shock China after state broadcaster CCTV ran an expose earlier this week showing that several farms in Henan province were using the fat-burning drug, clenbuterol, in pig feed.

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit News' auto critic said Thursday that he resigned because editors demanded that he delete sections of a scathing review of the Chrysler 200, a car promoted in a popular Super Bowl television ad starring rapper Eminem.
Scott Burgess' original review made it into the newspaper's March 10 print edition.

While it’s difficult to specify the best bearing — each application calls for different performance and cost characteristics — the needle bearing can take many forms. Needle bearings can often offer major advantages over conventional bushings because they operate with a rolling motion rather than a sliding motion.

WAGO Corporation (Germantown, WI) has developed the CPO Series DIN-rail Mount Outlet Boxes to provide control cabinets with power for common tools, including laptops and testing equipment. The CPO Series utilizes a UL 498 Receptacle, which is ideal for UL 508 panels. In addition, the PVC housing measures just 60mm by 109mm and features an ABS plastic cover.

Rustlick (Glenview, IL), a subsidiary of ITW ROCOL North America , has announced the release of ULTRACUT Aero, a new premium water-soluble oil optimized for high-tech ferrous and nonferrous metals, including titanium, aluminum, Inconel, and stainless steel. The Aero uses the latest lubrication and antimicrobial technologies to create a long-lasting cutting fluid.

The new CSI 2600 Machinery Health Expert delivers the portability of the two-channel CSI 2130 Machinery Health Analyzer and advanced predictive capabilities. The system, from Emerson Process (Knoxville, TN) continuously monitors, records, and analyzes machinery information for more than 100 hours across all 24 channels without the significant cost of a hardwired solution.

CHICAGO — Prime Advantage, the leading buying consortium for midsized industrial manufacturers, announced the findings of its third annual Group CFO Survey, revealing the top financial concerns of its member companies’ CFOs in 2011. CFOs are seeing solid signs of the economic recovery in U.

January U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $371.41 million, according to AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 16.

Manufacturing.net
Slowly but surely all of the “mom and pop” manufacturing facilities are closing. From sardine canneries in Maine to baking product suppliers in California, smaller plants are feeling the pressure from buyers who believe importing manufactured goods is more cost efficient.

Once again we turn to Bill, the “Engineer Guy,” to explain how the world works. This time? Smoke detectors.
It turns out, a miniscule piece of radioactive material, Americium, works in conjunction with a special integrated circuit, called a MOSFET (or Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor).

CNN's Fareed Zakaria explores the future potential of America's workforce and the new American dream. According to Zakaria, Americans need to focus on acquiring skills that will allow them to become mobile, dynamic, and entrepreneurial workers. The old American Dream doesn't work anymore, so it's necessary to change with the times.

For those businesses who import or export goods from Japan, particularly those that rely upon Japanese-based suppliers, the supply chain is about to get a bit trickier. CNBC sat down with Jeffrey Schwartz of Global Logistic Properties, and Jon Langenfield of Robert W. Baird & Co.
Despite a massive recovery effort, many businesses have sprung back extraordinarily quickly, as Schwartz reports, and with a more integrated global supply chain, perhaps things aren't as bad as many had originally thought.